Webber Fights Through Adversity To Secure Italian GP Podium

Mark Webber overcame front wing damage and gearbox concerns to take third place in Monza, having pushed Fernando Alonso all the way to the flag.

Webber damaged his wing when passed by Alonso early in the race, but he gained a place back when he passed Felipe Massa at the pit stops.

A gearbox oil pressure issue caused the team to tell him to shift early to protect his equipment, but there were no further problems.

“It was good to have a clean weekend from start to finish and then fight for top positions, which was certainly the case today,” said Webber. “The start was pretty good but both Sebastian and I, I think, compared to the Ferraris, were not as strong off the line.

“Felipe had a good one so he had to go to the other side. Seb gave me enough room up the inside. I thought he was going to go straight. He was very deep on the brakes but just managed to pull it up, so then we settled into the first part of the race.

“I was not super happy on the hard tyre, but anyway that’s the way it was. Fernando was into the rhythm a little bit quicker, we had a good little battle in the second chicane and then after that really just trying to managed the pace on the rear tyres to when we were going to stop to try to pass Felipe.

“We executed that as a team effort: driver, pit crew, and got the job done against Felipe. And then actually it was a good battle with Fernando on the other tyre. We had to nurse the gearbox a little bit but in the end second was the maximum, we got third but we pushed Fernando all the way. It’s always a good battle racing Fernando, you have to be very accurate. We pushed as hard as we could, and I’m satisfied with today’s result.”

Webber didn’t blame the wing damage for any loss in performance.

“The wing, I think, wasn’t too bad. I think we’ve had quite a few little snags on the front wings this season but that seemed to be OK. It wouldn’t have helped; I don’t think we had the best balance in the first ten, 15 laps because of that. As the race went on towards the end, it might not have been too bad to help the stint but I couldn’t go anywhere against that with Felipe and at the end of the stop the guys might have tweaked it up a little bit, but in general, not a big difference.

“I was concerned that the wing might have been more damaged when I saw it go and also on the back straight on the way to the Parabolica I thought I saw Fernando’s left rear – just an illusion maybe – but I saw the tyre about to go down but it didn’t, it stayed up and in the end we both survived.”